Congress Temporarily Averts Shutdown

Earlier this afternoon, both the House and Senate passed a one week extension of federal funding in order to avoid a shutdown and continue negotiations on the FY17 spending package.

With a deal on the FY17 spending package in sight, leaders in both chambers of Capitol Hill passed the short-term extension earlier today to give themselves more time to finalize negotiations before the new deadline ‒ Friday, May 5. This bipartisan act of good faith will ensure that Congressional Democrats, and Republicans on Capitol Hill and in the Trump administration, have enough time over the next seven days to settle the few remaining areas of disagreement. Two of the largest roadblocks to an agreement, President Trump’s $1.5 billion request for border wall funding and Democrats’ demand for $7 billion for CSR subsidies, were stripped out of the negotiations earlier this week and will both be negotiated away from the spending package. The bill does, however, provide a temporary extension of coal miners’ health benefits through Friday, May 5. For now, leaders in Washington are focused on finding agreement on several less contentious provisions of the FY17 spending package.

We’ll continue to provide timely updates over the next week as Congress and the Trump administration work towards a bipartisan, long-term extension of funding that provides certainty, stability, and predictability for health centers.